


fools rush in where angels fear to tread

by metayoz50k



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Food, Gen, i feel this went off the rails of your prompt, lots of little headcanons i couldnt resisting putting, so ill try to write a follow up at some point! sorry haha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 16:07:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17062826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/metayoz50k/pseuds/metayoz50k
Summary: Joshua is forced into interaction with his Proxy's friends after a blissful year of pretending they never existed.





	fools rush in where angels fear to tread

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lostboywriting](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostboywriting/gifts).



“Hey!” Shiki looks up from her phone at the familiar voice and sees Beat running towards her, Rhyme trailing behind. “Sorry ‘bout being late!”

 

“We were at Towa Records, so Beat thought we could leave a few minutes later than usual. And, well…” Rhyme shrugs. Shiki lets loose a giggle that comes out of her mouth in a burst, fleeting but sharp. It takes her a moment to realize she’s had that pent up for a good while, and she takes some time to let the rest of her nervousness peter out.

 

Beat chooses that period to speak up. “It’s aight.” He looks incredibly confident about that statement. “If he wants to talk to us, he won’t care ‘bout a coupla minutes. And if he doesn’t there’s nothing we can do about it.”

 

Shiki fiddles with the strap of her purse as she turns her eyes towards Sunshine Burger for the umpteenth time. “...Do you think he’ll actually be there?” She trusts Neku, but it seems like a tall order for  _ anyone  _ to keep the Composer of Shibuya where they want him to be, even Mr. Hanekoma. And the meeting place wasn’t WildKat or Dragon Couture during a sales event, but a dingy little fast food joint located in a mall where eighty percent of its profits were tourists ready to shell out for souvenirs. It was only chosen in the first place because, one, it was right beside Hachiko and it was symbolic and stuff; two, because Neku had a bus to catch in about seven minutes and Joshua was being difficult about rescheduling the meeting time.

 

She had a gut feeling that Joshua had a hand in the incredibly convenient timing of Neku’s commission deal pulling through, after weeks of frustrating negotiations with the singer. But, well, it had ended up happening anyways. Funny how it all worked out.

 

Her phone buzzes and she almost drops it in haste to check the notification - its a text from Neku that goes “ _ he’s put PLEASE come now i need to go ten minutes ago and i n... _ ” and she stifles a laugh at his panic. She’ll save the rest of the text for later.

 

Shiki motions to Beat and Rhyme, and the three make their way to Shibukyu Stationside...

 

...and are promptly hit by a flying blur of blue and orange.

 

“Cool! You guys are here.” Neku has opened up a lot in the year since the Reaper’s Game, but even then his palpable relief is hidden under layers of his apathetic, cool persona. Even when barreling into people at high speeds he comes out of the other end with only a few stray hairs out of line. 

 

He looks back at Sunshine Burger, rolls his eyes, and leaves with a quick mutter of ‘good luck’.

 

\---

 

Joshua née Yoshiya Kiryu sipped on his candy cane soy latte with two espresso shots and waited. Now that Neku had gone off he had resigned himself to a miserable hour of dancing circles around the plebian little minds of the proxy’s friends, with nothing but some coffee and chicken nuggets to comfort him. He’d have to ration them out, too - as delicious as they were there were only five to a pack. How silly.

 

Joshua would freely admit one of his biggest flaws was hubris. Seeing his proxy drop the gun at the end of the three-week long Game was just as much of a surprise to him as it wasn’t. Saving Shibuya was just as much of an impulse as it was thought out. He spent a good few weeks holed up in Dead God’s Pad, thinking. About what happened, how he planned everything to go one way and Neku had blown it out of the water...by going along with it.

 

It ends up being one of the most tumultuous periods of his life-after-death. Or, as Hanekoma calls it, “babysitting some prepubescent kid”. (Ridiculous. Joshua prides himself on having almost complete control over his emotions, and he was outwardly miffed only like twice until he kicked his own wings back into gear.)

 

He began his personal renaissance by reestablishing contact with Neku, after two months of silence. The boy was incredibly receptive and the two had hit it off. Yet, as they met for coffee and Shibukyu Main Store dates Neku kept bringing up the idea of Joshua meeting his friends. How silly, Joshua would say, I’ve already met them all. And Neku would roll his eyes and reply Yeah, but you’ve never actually talked to them. And Joshua would roll  _ his  _ eyes and look back at the new line of clothes whose designs were inspired by the Burst Round pin line, and the conversation would stop there. 

 

This back and forth banter was something Joshua was counting on going forever until it petered out into oblivion or his proxy died of old age, but Neku ended it in one fell swoop - with a bet. A bet based on a game, even - the winner got the loser to do one thing. 

 

Joshua oh so loved Games, especially ones that could force his proxy into doing idiotic things.

 

And so he was here, doing an idiotic thing.

  
All because of. 

 

Tin-Pin.

 

Because Neku was a goddamn cheater, literally why would 100 Yen pins be better for Tin-Pin than pins  _ designed for the game, Dr. Pin was going to get a very stern talking-to next time Joshua graced him with his presence. _

 

“Hey, this seat taken?” Joshua glances up from his drink and sees Daisukenojo with his sister and a very plain-looking girl. Daisukenojo is grinning ear-to-ear, like he’s said something clever. Joshua purses his lips.

 

“Yes.”

 

And he looks back down. Takes his phone out for good measure. He agreed to do this, but by no means did he agree to do it gracefully.

 

An awkward moment of silence passes until the girl with the glasses (Neku’s first Partner, if he wasn’t mistaken) takes the initiative to plop down on the booth seat opposite of Joshua. “Well, we’ll have to sit on these instead, then!” She scooches over to the window then pats the seat on her right. Rhyme joins her.

 

Daisukenojo stays standing, however. “...Um, I’m gonna go get summin’ to eat. Rhyme,” he gives his sister a thumbs up that she returns - they’ve clearly eaten enough times at this establishment to know what the other wants. The boy turns his head towards his friend. “Shiki, d’you want anything?”

 

“Oh, sure! I’d like a salad. Here,” she takes out a coin from her pocket and gives it to him, “keep the change.”

 

“Naw man,” and here Daisukenojo is giving the money back to a flummoxed Misaki, “my treat.”

 

“It’s a salad, Beat. Buy me a crepe next time or something.”   
  
“You said that last time!”

 

“And I meant it! God, nevermind. I’ll just have to make sure I pay for  _ my own food _ then.” Misaki awkwardly shifts her way out of the booth seat (“ _ sorry, Rhyme! _ ”) and manhandles Daisukenojo to the cashier, the boy launching protests along the whole way.

 

Daisukenojo’s sister giggles at the spectacle until she looks back at Joshua, who for all intents and purposes looks completely immersed in his phone. She shuts her mouth.

 

More silence. The girl takes her time looking around the restaurant, fishing for a conversation starter. Joshua ponders for a moment at the enigma in front of him as he mindlessly taps buttons with one hand, while the other hand busies itself with feeding Joshua sips of his latte. As far as records went in Shibuya, there weren’t many examples of human-turned-Noise that had the chance to turn back. None, actually - there were a few recorded cases in other prefectures, and the phenomenon was generally more observed in the North Americas where several Game territories regularly hosted ‘bonus rounds’ involving erased Players.

 

Daisukenojo’s sister would have been reborn mostly unscathed if Joshua had erased her memories, like he usually did with Players that have won their right to be resurrected. But he didn’t, and she carried with her an insight into Shibuya that she probably didn’t even remember not having in the first place. A nebulous connection to every bit and piece of the city as it swirled around her, a connection she had to make sense of when it originated for the Noise that never had the capacity to. 

 

Her hands brushed against a stray line of Music as she brought them under her chin in a contemplative pose. “I suppose it’s nice to meet you, Joshua.”

 

“Call me the Composer.”

 

“Call me Rhyme, then.”  _ Daisukenojo’s younger sibling _ smiles, but puts no effort into hiding her true emotions. “I know you know all of our names. Why not use them?”

 

“I don’t care enough to know your names.” He inspects his nails. “Especially not the one of some two-bit Player who died Day 4.” It was so easy finding ways to goad other people. Would she grow frustrated, or shrink into herself? Her tense shoulders suggested the former but her personality suggested the latter. 

 

It was with surprise that he looked at the girl and saw no change in her Music at all. Just the steady, but frenetic hum of anticipation. Hmm. 

 

The girl rolls her eyes. “Okay,  _ Mr. Composer, sir _ . I’m Rhyme, my brother is Beat, and that girl over there is Shiki.” She points to the two who are still at the counter bickering over who was paying. 

 

“Charmed.”

 

“...”

 

“...”

 

“...Wow, Neku was right - you  _ are  _ as stubborn as a mule.” And with that, the tension breaks; Daisukenojo’s sister leans against the back of her seat and Joshua lets out an indignant snort despite himself, and immediately wishes he had never done that from the look on the other person’s face.

 

“Has he called me that?” What led her to  _ that  _ conclusion? Standoffish or cold would be a better fit. After all, a person had to deny something to be stubborn, and Joshua wasn’t in denial about anything, except maybe the time, which was 12:13pm when it felt like much longer since the three kids had entered the fast food restaurant. “I can’t imagine why.”

 

“A spade is a spade.” She smiles again. “I think you should loosen up a bit, Joshua. Give us a shot!”

 

“Aaaand we’re back!” Misaki slams two trays of food on the table, narrowly missing Joshua’s latte cup. He grimaces. “Sorry for the wait, I had to tase Beat so he would stop bringing his wallet up.”

 

“Yo, don’t do that again!” Daisukenojo covers the side of his ribs with both arms. “That hurt! I get it, I get it, you pay the bills.”

 

“I do. I do pay the bills.”

 

“Okay, settle down.” Rhyme moves out of her seat so Misaki can move back in. “No sense in waiting for the food to get cold, right?” She reaches for her cup of corn chowder and digs in. 

 

Joshua watches Daisukenojo take a bite out of his Double Burger as Misaki pours a sweet and sour dressing over her salad. He looks down at his box of nuggets - empty, despite his efforts. 

 

...Oh, what the hell, it wasn’t like he was going to get fat eating more. He clicks a few numbers on his phone and watches as a steaming hot box of nuggets appears from thin air onto the table. Everyone stops what they’re doing to look at him. He shrugs.

 

“Seriously?” Daisukenojo pokes the nuggets to make sure they aren’t a hallucination. “Dude, you can just make food out of thin air?”

 

(Joshua actually just teleported a box from the back of the store to here, but he doesn’t have to know that.) 

 

Misaki sighs. “Joshua, you know if you just asked we would have bought more nuggets.”

 

“Hey, Joshua,” and Rhyme butts in, “are you eating your nuggets dry?”

 

“Oh, wow, he is.” Misaki.

 

“Dude, I can get you a sauce, what do you like?” Daisukenojo stands up as he says this.

 

Joshua doesn’t deign them with a response. It takes them a bit to get the hint.

 

“...Do you actually  _ like  _ them without sauce?” Rhyme says this like the world has ended.

 

“That’s sick.” Daisukenojo cries. “It ain’t right.”

 

Misaki stands up too, arms drawn in front of her face in mock horror. “Oh my god. Who raised you like this?”

 

He misses his proxy.

 

\---

 

Neku plops down on the bus seat just as it leaves the station. There wasn’t a single moment during the whole day where he could check his phone to see how his friends were doing, and now it was nighttime. He turns on his phone ( _ finally! _ ) and is immediately hit with a barrage of text messages and notifications that force him to spend the next few seconds cursing and lowering the volume.

 

It’s as he’s scrolling through his notifs that he sees a Twitter headline. “ _ Local: _ ”, it reads, “ _ half bird half man captured on Sunshine Burger camera footage, Shibuya. _ ” He clicks it and sees a blurry object breaking the window and flying out of the fast food restaurant, with his friends covering their faces to protect them from shards of broken glass.

 

He punches in Shiki’s number with practised ease and groans as soon as she picks up on the third ring.

 

“Hey, what the  _ hell _ did you guys do?”

**Author's Note:**

> joshua bought a candy cane soy latte with two espresso shots at wildkat and then promptly sat his ass at another restaurant does he have no sense of decorum


End file.
